10 Great Cheeses for Father's Day

Father’s Day is a great time to treat dad to something special, and that isn’t another tie. We reached out to some of our favorite cheesemongers to get their recommendations for artisan and farmstead cheeses and even some pairings that are sure to please.

Gordon Edgar

Gordon Edgar has been the cheese buyer for San Francisco’s Rainbow Grocery Cooperative since 1994 and is the author of Cheddar: A Journey to the Heart of America’s Most Iconic Cheese and Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge. He started his cheese blog Gordonzola in 2002 in addition to judging cheese competitions, he sometimes teaches cheese classes, including a Father’s Day class with his own dad.

Gordon’s Picks:

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. Gouda

Point Reyes Gouda aged over 18 months, is a great California version of an aged Dutch cheese: sweet, sharp and salty. It may seem odd to recommend a women-owned business for Father's Day but Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese is now run by three sisters. A dairy since the 1950's founded by their father Bob Giacomini, the dairy expanded into cheesemaking in 2000 to bring the daughters into the mix. That's not the usual way things go in the dairy world but it sure is something a good dad would do.

Dunbarton Blue photo credit © 2019 Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin

Dunbarton Blue is a truly unique cheddar blue mash-up and one of my favorite cheeses.  It's also a great Father's Day story because Chris Roello's father -- depressed about how little money could be made by a small cheese company in this present day – closed the family factory rather than consign his son to a life of poverty.  Chris, however, couldn’t resist the cheesemaking urge and began making cheese in secret, one of which became this amazing earthy, sharp and pungent hybrid.  They now work in cheese together at the new Roelli Cheese Company.

Ameribella photo credit Taylor Buckholz

Ameribella is a  raw milk, grass-based cheese made on Jacobs and Brichford family farm in Indiana and one of the best washed rind cheeses in the United States.  It may owe a debt to Northern Italian cheese in recipe but this cheese is one of my dad’s favorites because it is reminiscent enough of the German stinkers he grew up with.  Meaty, earthy, pungent, and buttery-rich. 

Hunter Fike

Hunter Fike is the cheese buyer and category manager at DiBruno Bros in Philadelphia. He contributes to the Di Bruno Bros blog and collaborated on the Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese book. He is also a dad. 

Hunter’s Picks:

Aarewasser credit @thekitchenandthegarden

Aarewasser is a  relatively new addition to Stateside cheese counters, this pudgy Raclette style is made with raw cow milk in Switzerland. Like most smear-ripened cheeses, it’s a bit meaty, but here it’s more of a baked ham than seared steak. Combined with a gentle, oozy buttery flavor, the overall sensation is of biting into a warm ham-and-cheese croissant. This is for the grilling dads, perfect on burgers, grilled pizzas (with Speck) or charred veggies.

Hawkins Haze

Hawkins Haze - for the dad who would rather sit in pensive solitude with a glass of Gruner Veltliner and a crossword puzzle, consider this ethereal sheep milk beauty from Blackberry Farm in Tennessee. When fresh, it’s bright and rich with mineral notes resulting from a layer of vegetable ash. With a bit of age, it develops a sumptuous cream line, and with it, some earthy, mushroomy notes. A drizzle of honey or a spoonful of strawberry jam would be a delightful pairing.

Chiriboga Blue photo courtesy of @mercatonyc @tomalesbayfoods

Chiriboga Blue is the cheese for the entertainer; the dad who likes to show his guests something new. Chiriboga is one of those rare cheeses that can be considered an approachable gateway to its style, while also being nuanced and interesting enough to appeal to the cheesy veteran. Its texture is almost fudge-like, with a sweet cream undercurrent reminiscent of gelato. Interspersed with subtle whispers of funky blue mold, it’s a real show-stopper. Pair with a gin martini and dark chocolate. 

Dave Phillips

Dave Phillips is an ACS Certified Cheese Professional, a dad, and the cheese department manager and head cheesemonger for Potash Markets in Chicago. Phillips is also a writer and the former chief editor of Dairy Foods.

Dave’s Picks:

Cracked Pepper Chèvre Frais courtesy Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery

Fresh Chevre is a great breakfast cheese on a bright summer morning. Your local chevre is usually the freshest, and can be your best option. For me, that's Chevre Frais, from Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery in Champaign IL. I like the cracked pepper flavor on sourdough toast with fresh strawberries and black coffee.

"File:Etivaz.jpg" by Guy Waterval is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

A cheese we are carrying for the first time in L'Etivaz, sort of grandad of Gruyere that is an Alpage cheese--made only in the summer when Switzerland's cows take to the high Alpine pastures. It must be made in a summer chalet over a wood stoked fire. Backyard smoked brisket comes to mind, and the result is a fruity, complex cheese. 

Rogue Smokey Blue photo @come_to_cheesus

Speaking of smoked food, one of my all-time favorite cheeses is Rogue Smokey Blue, from Rogue Creamery in Oregon. Rogue's blues are made with great organic milk, and all offer a restrained blue bite, with a rich creamy base. Smokey is smoked over hazelnut shells adding another layer of flavor. Some smoked cheeses smell like a warehouse fire, but smokey has a balanced aroma that may remind you of the best smoked salmon you have ever tasted.  

"Pleasant Ridge Reserve Cheese" by artizone is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Uplands Cheese is one of the most storied cheeses in the American tradition. Inspired by Gruyere, and Beaufort, the cheese from Dodgeville, Wisconsin, is made only when the farm’s mixed-breed cows are on lush pastures, but it is aged and released to be available year round. A firm, nutty cheese, it offers a warm sunny feeling, a creamy texture, and magnificent complex flavors any time of year, including Father's Day. Pair it with a farmhouse ale, close your eyes, and you may be transported to a quiet grassy pasture picnic at sunset. 

Joe Ciardullo

Joe Ciardullo is the owner of C’est Cheese on the North Shore of Long Island and also recommends Uplands Cheese Pleasant Ridge Reserve, adding that by using only raw milk from the mixed breed herd you wind up with an amazingly complex flavor of salty, sweet, fruity and rich. And if you can find the extra aged version, which is cellared for more than a year, those flavors are more concentrated and intense.